Similar recipe and strength to Black Butte XX (2008), "enhanced by adding some Theo's Chocolate cocoa nibs from Seattle, dry-hopping it with 100 pounds of Bellatazza's locally roasted coffee, and then aging a portion of it in Stranahan's Colorado whiskey barrels."

Appearance: Pour is a nearly opaque black/brown with some red edges. Decently large head, no real lacing.

Smell: Burnt coffee and chocolate, very faint bourbon, oak, and vanilla. This one is roasted and charred, perhaps a bit too much. Coffee / coffee beans that have been in the pot a bit too long.

Taste: I can hear the accountant and the brewer arguing. Lets put it all in bourbon barrels, it will be delicious. No, you must cut some corners and use only 20% in bourbon barrels! Sickening, and this beer suffers due to it. Big burnt coffee and chocolate, roasted malt. Very faint oak, bourbon and vanilla. Put it all in barrels.

Mouthfeel: Big / full beer as expected, a bit astringent.

Drinkability: Didn't finish the glass, much less the bottle. Meh same as last year's batch. Another "big" beer. Yawn.

22oz. waxed and capped bomber poured into a Darkness snifter. Love the regular Black Butte some I'm really looking forward to this one.

A: Gentle pour yields a .5 finger semi-coarse light mocha head with poor retention that dissipates into a cluster of bubbles clinging to one side of the glass. Beer is an opaque black that nevertheless reveals bubbles floating to the top. Lacing is thick and layered with nice legs and great stick.

T: Opens roasted liquorice, chocolate, roasted malt, burnt cocoa. An awkward burnt fruit and peat taste takes over towards the middle. Liquorice is prominent and becomes very very sweet and roasty. Slight hop bitterness towards the end. Finish is a filmy chocolate and liquorice with a sweet, ashy malt aftertaste.

M: Medium to full bodied with moderate carbonation. Slightly rough edges on this one but it smoothes out as it warms. Oily and filmy on the palate and going down. Finish is subtle but aftertaste sticks hard and doesn't go away.

D: Overall, I'm a bit disappointed by this one. The regular Black Butte porter is such an amazingly rich, yet subtle and drinkable brew that I thought this would be amazing. Alas, something must've happened along the way to impart a rather weird taste that turns me off even though I can't quite put my finger on what it is. I'll give this another try and would love to come across an aged bottle but as is, BBXXI is average at best.

22oz bottle, XXI. I really hope that this one smooths out with a little age. Super dark brown with a beige head. The aroma has a green vegetal coffee note with some sticky caramelized sugars and some darker roasted grain. There is is some light wood and chocolate as well, but the coffee seems to be dominating that aroma in a less than stellar fashion. Bitter coffee, alcohol, and sticky-sweet malt in the flavor. Reasonably well balanced between the three, but a bit messy. The body is sticky, yet not a rich as I was hoping for how big this is. It seems like I am picking out a lot of fault in this, but it is still a pleasant drink, though nothing amazing. I'm definitely letting my other bottle age at least a year to hopefully clear up that vegetal coffee and alcohol.

22 oz bottle, best after 10/17/10 (oh well!). Pours a dark brown with a creamy tan head that retains well and laces the glass.

The aroma is sweet roasted chocolate, tar, black licorice, and coffee. A little too heavy on the black licorice and tar for me.

The flavor is sweet sugary lactic chocolate balanced by a big tarry roasted bitterness and black licorice with a little coffee. The finish has a good deal of bitterness. As it warms, the sweetness comes out and becomes a bit overwhelming. Also notes of bourbony dark fruits appear as well. It's very bold but not at all smooth - a bit too brash for me. The mouthfeel is fairly full with creamy carbonation.

Overall, it's a bit too harsh especially with the black licorice and tar and then the heavy sweetness. It would be interesting to try again after the best after date to see if it mellows out.

Bomber that I've aged for about 4 months, poured into my large St. Feuillien goblet, Black Butte XXI is black with a creamy little tan head that leaves light, scattered lace.

Smell is very astringent and charcoal like, and frankly, very off-putting at first. I LOVED XX like know other, and really was looking forward to this. But the smell is foreboding. I assume it's extreme coffee grounds, but it's got a twiggy wood like aroma or something, like a dusty (but not mildewy) old attic.

Taste is, thankfully, better more in-line with what I expected. But this is still quite a bit different from last year, it's not as sweet and porter like, with way more coffee and chocolate. There's a bitter bakers chocolate bite that I could do with out, and overall, it's just not my speed. Last years was perfect, and I feel like they pushed it to far. I'm glad I sat on them a few months at least before trying it. I have a few more, and will give them a good 2 more years to start integrating and rounding out.

Mouthfeel is super creamy, full bodied, a bit dry on the finish.

Drinkability is OK, but frankly, it's too much coffee/chocolate/wood, and not enough strong porter. After loving last years so much, this one is a little disappointing. I'm hoping some serious cellar time will drop out the adjuncts and bring out the sweet dark malts.

A: Pours darkest of browns and, when backlit, the beer shows a deep amber glow. It is also clear. Head, retention, and effervescence play bit parts in appearance.

S: Milk chocolate, dark chocolate, coffee liqueur, light vanilla compose smell. I will add molasses as I think this beer would pair well with barbecue beef.

T: Sweet maltiness and then chocolate in its various and sundry forms. Mid-palate I hit a monolithic bitterness that is the offspring of chocolate, coffee and hops. The only thing that covers it is another drink.

Pours from the bottle a deep, dark black with a half inch of short-lived brown head. Smell is... uninspiring. Toasty malt that I associate with porters-- yes, but bourbon, chocolate, and so on-- no. In fact, after a while I picked up little more than wet newspaper.

XXI tastes better than it smells with a good dose of coffee that is well-done-- not too acrid or better. There's some cocoa floating around, but it's on the light side. Finally, a moderate bourbon note (way more subtle than The Perfect Storm, for example) livens things up slightly. I expected way more boldness of flavor and was a little letdown. Mouthfeel is soft and warming, with a little fusel alcohol at the end of most sips.

I split the bomber with a friend, and the glassful I had from this bottle wasn't hard to drink, mostly because I found it less than bold.

Like an obedient fan of Deschutes Brewery, I patiently saved my bottle of Black Butte XXI for 10 months until the "BEST AFTER" date. I was REALLY looking forward to trying this one since The Abyss and Mirror Mirror were so interesting. I was, however, a little disappointed. XXI is not bad, it's just not very spectacular and definitely not worth the price or the hype...

It pours a nice black with a frothy, tan head. There is lots of lacing but it doesn't look unlike a typical porter or stout.

The first taste to hit me was actually kinda weird: rotten wood. Wha? Yeah. Along with a little green onion thrown in there too. I'm not sure how better to describe that initial taste but there is definitely an unmistakeable and very strange sour spice on the front of the tongue. The coffee begins to push through after about 1 min., and becomes increasingly strong after more sips and as the beer warms to room temp. Eventually the weird flavors are completely dominated by the coffee+hops+chocolate. As it warms, XXI also gets much sweeter as the standard Black Butte Porter base begins to pop through.

There is no bourbon evident in the taste, only in the smell. The dominant aromas are coffee and over-ripe bananas, plus that weird oniony wood thing that is also in the taste. This beer has a very strange, very unique smell. While it is interesting, it is actually quite foul to me.

The mouthfeel is decent. There is major alcohol warming in the throat too, which is nice on a cool night.Despite all the weirdness, drinking the XXI is actually very enjoyable and it is much more drinkable than The Abyss.

On tap at Beer Revolution. Pours a very dark brown with a small light tan head that dissipates quickly and leaves very little lacing on the glass. Aroma is huge dark, bitter chocolate. There is also some licorice and molasses as well as a bit of alcohol. The initial taste is sweet with dark chocolate going into some licorice and molasses. A little graham cracker as well. The finish is on the sweet side with a light bitterness and a decent amount of alcohol. Lightly astringent. Medium body. Low carbonation. The chocolate dominates almost all other flavors in this beer. The alcohol was also quite prominent considering the age on this beer. It was a solid beer, but I was expecting a little bit more.

Bottle. Pours a dark espresso with a mocha head. Bubbles were a bit extreme on the pour. Nose is a lot of roast, a light whiff of bourbon, but mostly coffee grounds, a touch metallic and thin. Kind of messy nose. Nice creamy feel in the mouth, again a lot of roast, coffee grounds really come out on the finish, and aren't terribly attractive. Reminded me a bit of Parabola at first, which isn't a good thing, but I think this is actually put together a bit better. Not great though.

It's time for a little fun, and get this, the bomber is double waxed! Now I know this will be good. On to the beer:

The lace and head are creamy, the body is black as oil, and the had retention is good. Bitter, astringent coffee in the aroma. A little vegetable briefly. Wood.

I'm getting a lot of coffee flavor in this beer. Bourbon soaked wood plays second fiddle to this big coffee tasting beer. You don't really taste the alcohol, but as it starts to go down your thorat, it begins its warming burn. The body doesn't scream 11% ABV; it seems more medium bodied than full bodied. Drinks fine for its size.

That's too bad. The beer isn't really soaking into my palate as much as I hoped. The coffee and wood outshine the malt by a longshot. Maybe I shoudn't have been listening to "Steal My Sunshine" earlier tonight. That's not a joke, I really was.

By no means this is a bad tasting beer, but a rather unbalanced one. A better showing by the malt would do wonders for me. Here's hoping Black Butte XXII provides a better experience.

S: Purely coffee beans. Like walking into a good coffee shop. Aroma is moderate, but pleasant.

T: Potent! Upfront bold coffee flavor and bitterness. Softens out halfway through only to have the bitterness renewed at the end, throughout the finish. Pleasant tingly carbonation through out which adds a bit of texture.

A flavorfully overwhelming, kick-in-the-face kind of drink on par with brutal IPAs in terms of intensity. The predominant bitterness however, reduces it's drinkability.

Deep brown porter with dark sugary sticky lacing. Pours a nice creamy head with great cascading carbonation, similar to Abyss.

As for aroma, initially it's a dead ringer for Tabasco sauce. As it warms, coffee and bourbon come out, as well as lots of dark carmel notes and some lager-like DMS. Alcohol is present with some higher alcohols adding theirs potent fumes.

Deep flavors with a rich complexity. More playing on the tabasco notes, as the coffee and bourbon flavors, as well as the roasted barley-less darks grains, seem to morph into it; there is an overall mild numbing spicyness. Also more play on the lager-like DMS notes. Delicate bourbon almost gets overpowered by the strong porter body. Very similar to a Baltic porter. Very dry finish, almost too dry.

Good lively carbonation makes the mouthfeel easy to handle for such a large and sticky beer. Not to viscous but pretty filling.

Good drinkability, but it's not the most interesting beer so that dampered things a bit. Many say they like this better than Abyss, but to me Abyss is the clear winner.

Recommended, but only if you have the $$ to burn ($13 a bottle). I think it could use some cellar time to morph into something a little more awesome first as recommended on the bottle (I went ahead and drank it anyway because I though Mirror Mirror was ready fresh). Cheers!

A-- Poured a dark brown and settled black with just a few hints of amber here and there. Small light brown head, stayed through drinking the beer.

S-- Big initial nose of roasted coffee and milk chocolate. Hints of vanilla as well. With more air nose became more of coffee and chocolate.

T-- Dirty, grity, and earthy coffee, chocolate, vanilla and touches of oak. Reminded me of old coffee. Thought KBS but without the bourbon notes that KBS has. Much more about rich coffee and chocolate.

M-- Gritty and earthy in front, more creamy in back. Bits of thinness in the mid and back of palate. Well hidden alcohol for the size of the beer. Once it opened up more did get notes of whiskey in the finish. Medium feel and low carbonation.

O-- Not bad but not great. Liked it more and more as I drank on. Well hidden alcohol. More about coffee and chocolate with this. No wow factor to this really, even with age. Seems to have mellowed out well but maybe too much.

A: Thin head, only one finger on a good pour, tan with various bubbles and only a little texture. Pretty black body, hard to see any active carbonation. That head fades fast, but leaves a little active carbonation. All in all, I'm not that impressed.

S: Fills the air with a sweet sugar and molasses mixture at first. A deeper inspection reveals rampant choco-coffee notes. Sweet ones though. Very strong. The coffee is really evident in this beer's aroma. Overpowering even. Yes, it's a coffee added beer, but in the aroma, it may be too much. I really get not much else but the coffee.

T: Yep, still coffee in the mouth. And I'm really not diggin it. I get no cocoa, no bourbon, just coffee porter really. I gave it a few minutes, and I still feel the same. I really feel you could take a glass of coffee, dump in some Black Butte, and get the same result.

M: Dry, which works great for coffee but for a porter, should be smoother, slightly.

D: I don't like coffee, and this is sucking for me, For a coffee drinker, they should drink this fast.

S: Sweet chocolate, some coffee and roastiness. Caramel and toffee notes with maybe a hint of vanilla.

T: Wow, this is sweet. I'm sure it sweetened up over the years. Initial flavors start off with the sweet chocolate flavors, sweet cocoa, coffee, slight vanilla, toffee, caramel coupled with the heavy roasted malt flavors. Not getting much barrel aging flavors other than some slight vanilla. Finish stays sweet and turns cloying with some alcohol.

O: I was not getting this beer really. I thought it was too sweet to enjoy and it could have used some hops or other earthy tones to help cut the sweetness.

Overall I was disappointed in this beer. I had high hopes for this beer especially with the whiskey barrels, but I left wanting more. I'm not sure why very little of the woody/earthy tones did not come out that would have no doubt cut the sweetness. Still, I understand how limited this beer was so I was still glad to try it.

Pours from the bottle a deep, nebulous black, initially topped off with about an inch of rich mocha foam which shortly settles into a thin collar studded with random bubbles. Huge nose on this one, lots of freshly brewed espresso, bourbon, dark chocolate, dates and black pepper. Coffee is dominant on the palate here, along with a little cocoa, roasted malt, oak and vanilla. Finishes a little bit bitter, with some pronounced alcohol heat. The time in the bottle has done this one well. A very nice 21st birthday beer for a criminally underrated brewery.